Zero Shot

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TECHNOLOGY
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Join Brady Ng, Praveen Gopal Krishnan, and Rohin Dharmakumar of The Ken as they discuss the big ideas in artificial intelligence. You’ll get the macro view, explore their experiments in practical applications, go deeper than the news coverage you’ve seen, and hear about the implications of the latest developments. Nothing is off the table.

5 HR AGO

The AI wearable market is full of dead devices. NeoSapien thinks India can turn the tide

What is the market for AI wearables? And what does they do that a phone already doesn’t? These were the two main questions we asked Dhananjay Yadav, the co-founder and CEO of NeoSapien, a startup that makes an AI-powered pendant that “transcribes in real time, summarises what matters, and reminds you to follow through”. He calls it a “productivity tool” that will change how we interact with devices. But the AI wearable market is tricky. Remember Humane? The AI pin company? It raised $230 million, shipped fewer than 10,000 devices, and permanently bricked every single one of them on February 28, 2025. And Rabbit, the other AI wearable startup that made a big splash, sold 100,000 units and watched 95% of its users disappear within five months. Then there was Friend, a $99 AI pendant that listened to your life and sent you encouraging messages. It died quietly too. And yet here is Dhananjay who is building a pendant in Bengaluru, telling us India can win the global AI wearable race. And the product, he says, will be used by regular people: small business owners, real estate agents, and even journalists. Tune in! ____ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN.____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! Recommended Reading: NeoSapien What Anthropic’s Mythos can hack in hours, Indian banks take months to fix Note taking app Plaud Can a Note-Taking AI Bracelet Really Make You More Productive? I Tested One to Find Out.

51 min
29 APR

How Presentations.AI went from $0 to $5M in revenue with zero new hires

Most AI startup success stories start in November 2022. For the story of Presentations.AI, however, we have to go back to 2005. That year, Sumanth Raghavendra, who is also the co-founder of The Ken, started his first venture. It was called InstaCall. The idea was to build an online office suite in Bangalore with a team of six engineers. They ended up cracking the product, but had no way to market and sell it. In 2012, when the iPhone opened up the App Store, they dropped the full office suite and bet everything on one slice of it — presentations. That became Deck, a mobile-first presentation app. Deck’s thesis was that users came to a presentation tool knowing what they wanted to say, and just needed help saying it visually. But that assumption fell apart really quickly. People would land on the first slide, type a title, and freeze. This insight sent the team down a years-long road of trying to solve presentations with traditional machine learning tools. Then ,GPT arrived. And Deck rebuilt itself entirely, changed its tech stack, and cracked its unit economics. It reinvented itself and launched as Presentations.AI in 2023. It hit one million users in 84 days and soon surfaced at the top of every search for "AI presentation maker". It survived and rode the AI wave. Sumanth tells you the story of how that panned out. Tune in!____ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Cymasonic Productions. ____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! ___ Recommended Reading: Your Startup Is Probably Dead on Arrival AI and the end of SaaS playbooks https://presentations.ai https://aiboomi.org

58 min
22 APR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

China built AI differently than the US. Can India do the same?

"People in Silicon Valley and in China often have assumptions about each other. And their assumptions about each other are extremely self-centered." Our guest today is Afra Wang, a fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI and the writer behind Concurrent, a Substack that translates the tech culture of Silicon Valley and China from angels you wouldn’t typically expect. Afra understands both these tech ecosystems and is specific about what that self-centeredness looks like on both sides. Chinese entrepreneurs assume the American government has a heavy hand in pushing AI infrastructure, for example, the way Beijing does. This is just the tip of the iceberg of assumptions that both sides keep building on. Instead, in reality, there are specific ways in which AI development occurs in both places. Consider a leather factory in China using AI to scan cowhide in real time — it maps flaws, computes optimal cutting patterns, and eliminates waste. Silicon Valley has no equivalent because America doesn't have this sector. Afra sums it up: "You cannot map everything from Silicon Valley to China. You cannot map a lot of things from China to Silicon Valley." So, what’s similar and what’s different? What’s moving between these two competing systems? And what lessons does that have for India? Tune in. ____ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN. ____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! ____ Additional Resources China OS vs. America OS (2026 version) https://afraw.substack.com/p/china-os-vs-america-os-2026-version Chinese Open Source: A Definitive History https://interconnected.blog/chinese-open-source-a-definitive-history/ Chinese Tech Workers Are Starting to Train Their AI Doubles–and Pushing Back https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/20/1136149/chinese-tech-workers-ai-colleagues/ Jack Dorsey’s Block to Cut Nearly Half Its Workforce in AI Overhaul, Shares Surge https://www.reuters.com/business/blocks-fourth-quarter-profit-rises-announces-over-4000-job-cuts-2026-02-26/ The Dark Forest Theory, Explained https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/dark-forest-theory-alien-life The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Forest US bans sale of Huawei, ZTE tech amid security fears (2022) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63764450

52 min
14 APR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

Zero Shot Live: Who will survive Agentic AI in India?

Today is not regular programming for Zero Shot. We present to you a glimpse of our first live event, which we dramatically titled “The Great Unbundling”. It had a simple premise: agentic AI is coming. Soon. Hard. Fast. For India's consumer internet companies. Who will survive it? We posed this question to Muralikrishnan B, former President of Xiaomi India; Amod Malviya, co-founder of Udaan and former CTO of Flipkart; Anant Choubey, co-founder of Capillary; and Thomas Fenn, co-founder of Mahabelly and joint secretary of the National Restaurant Association of India. This was The Ken's fifth live event, and it was sold out. A big thank you to all of you who were there. We are doing a lot more events this year and if you want to be there next time, keep an eye on our website. Tune in. ____ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN. ____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! ___ Recommended Reading: The Great Unbundling

32 min
8 APR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

Kuku used AI to crack micro dramas. It is now coming for Bollywood

"We have 353 billion data points on user behaviour. Why wouldn't I use them to make a better story and get into newer businesses within content?" That's Kunj Sanghvi, the vice president and head of content at Kuku, explaining their next big bet on theatrical films. Kuku has seen 10 million paid subscribers and 350 million downloads so far. This is precious data of “micro segments”, people’s consumption behaviour, preferences, sentiments and indulgences. Kuku says this is the bedrock of what they do: “turning creativity into a science”. AI has been the central to how they achieved this with audio and microdramas. It is also key to what they did with their first full-length feature film, which is ready for release on May 8. In this episode of Zero Shot, Kunj walks us through how Kuku uses AI in production. It starts off with their “proprietary content genome” that ingests millions of data points, scores incoming story pitches, flags weak cliffhangers, predicts which micro-segment an idea will resonate with, and tells you what to fix before a single frame is shot. And come production, AI is helping create scale, making possible complex shots that would require budgets, extras, and massive resources. The result? A film called Indian Institute of Zombies, made at a fraction of regular film budgets. "The audience going to cinemas wants spectacle," says Kunj. "AI lets you cheat that. You can show scale without it feeling like a low-cost production." Tune in. ____ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN. ____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! ____ Recommended Reading: ‘Indian Institute of Zombies’ Marks Kuku’s Big-Screen Debut With Campus Horror Comedy MS Dhoni Invests in AI-driven Storytelling Platform Kuku

1hr 1min
31 MAR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

Salary, Bonus, Equity… Tokens?

Your next job offer might just come with a "token budget" line item. The idea has been gaining steam in Silicon Valley. In February, a VC named Tomasz Tunguz dropped a blog post arguing that inference costs are becoming the fourth pillar of engineering compensation alongside salary, bonus, and equity. Here is the math: the 75th percentile software engineer in the US draws $375k. Add $100k in inference costs and you're at $475k. That's 21% in tokens. A month later, Jensen Huang took this up a notch. The Nvidia CEO said he'd be alarmed if a $500k engineer wasn't burning through at least $250k worth of tokens. What does this actually mean if you're running an AI startup today? As agents go mainstream and the competition heats up, how do you stay ahead? How is the token bill allotted and negotiated? Akash Anand, CEO of Clueso, a Y Combinator-backed startup turning raw screen recordings into polished product videos, joins Zero Shot to break down his real token math. Spoiler: more tokens does not simply equal more productivity. Tune in! ___ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN. ____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears! ____ Additional Resources How AI is making and remaking the products that we build More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their A.I. Use. Jensen Huang says he would be 'deeply alarmed' if his $500,000 engineer did not consume at least $250,000 of tokens

1hr 4min
24 MAR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

The AI agent era has started in China. It looks different from anywhere else

Ever wondered what happens when AI agents are adopted at scale? Look no further than China. Over the last two months, people — yes, ordinary citizens — have been installing OpenClaw on their devices. Local governments are incentivising OpenClaw projects. Grandparents are lining up to get the software installed. And a cottage industry of "influencers" is telling people how to optimise their agent usage. It's a social and cultural moment as much as a technological one. How did China get here? To answer that question, we have Kevin Xu on this episode of Zero Shot. Kevin is the founder of Interconnected Capital, a global technology hedge fund, and a widely-read writer at the intersection of technology and geopolitics. His career is seemingly divergent: former White House press staffer, head of GitHub's international expansion, and an investor in AI startups. But it is this layered perspective — of a tech analyst, writer, fund manager, and operator all rolled into one — that can truly unpack what is happening in China. Tune in!___ This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN.____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears!____ Additional Resources Interconnected | Chinese open source: A definitive history ( https://interconnected.blog/chinese-open-source-a-definitive-history/ ) Hustlers are cashing in on China’s OpenClaw AI craze ( https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/11/1134179/china-openclaw-gold-rush/ ) In China, a rush to "raise lobsters" quickly leads to second thoughts ( https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/china-openclaw-ai-agent-frenzy-rcna263636 ) OpenClaw, government support fuel rise of 1-person companies in China ( https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347416/openclaw-government-support-fuels-rise-one-person-companies-china ) "Claw-powered" one-person companies become hot topic at China's "two sessions" ( https://english.news.cn/20260310/e067ec99ee5d49a69d958866fb930069/c.html ) Explore Intermission ( https://the-ken.com/intermission/the-business-of-colour-asian-paints/ )

1hr 1min
18 MAR • THE KEN PREMIUM ONLY

India’s biggest B2B marketplace takes OpenAI to court

Say you want a chunk of plywood. Or a passenger lift. Or a power cable. Or a corrugated packaging box. Chances are you will find yourself on IndiaMART, the country’s largest B2B marketplace connecting buyers with suppliers. With 60% of market share and a 12,000 crore market cap, the company essentially commands this space. Say you want a chunk of plywood. Or a passenger lift. Or a power cable. Or a corrugated packaging box. Chances are you will find yourself on IndiaMART, the country’s largest B2B marketplace connecting buyers with suppliers. With 60% of market share and a 12,000 crore market cap, the company essentially commands this space. There is one major problem though: ChatGPT. In December, IndiaMART filed a petition against OpenAI in the Calcutta High Court for “selective discrimination” at the hands of the company, saying that its LLM “specifically and consciously” excludes it from its results while servicing other e-commerce platforms. In a hearing, the court said the exclusion seems to have occurred “without any logic”. The case is ongoing. As our host Praveen Gopal Krishnan says, the “specifics of the case are far less interesting” than the proverbial can it seems to have kicked down the road. The case asks some crucial second, third, and fourth order questions about AI, competition, and who gets to win in this new market. To answer all of those questions and give us a picture of the regulatory landscape of India, we have Samir R Gandhi on this episode. Samir heads Axiom5, a boutique law firm specialising in competition law. He has spent over two decades at various law firms, and has had a ringside view of the development of competition law in India from the time of its enactment.He says the case gives him a sense of “deja vu” because it is fundamentally about an old incumbent being challenged by a disrupter. But the questions posed by AI systems — “part morality, part philosophical, part business model, part geopolitics” — will have wide-ranging implications for the market from a legal standpoint. Tune in! This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Cymasonic Productions.____ Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken. Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears!____ Recommended Reading: Ghosted by the bot: Why IndiaMART is desperate to be visible on ChatGPT ( https://www.livemint.com/companies/indiamart-v-openai-the-future-of-b2b-discovery-11773140694232.html ) CCI Rejects Allegations of Anti-Competitive Conduct against Uber and Ola ( https://www.azbpartners.com/bank/cci-rejects-allegations-of-anti-competitive-conduct-against-uber-and-ola/ )Accio ( https://www.accio.com/about-us ) Amazon V. Perplexity: Welcome To The Battle For The Future Of Commerce ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2025/11/05/amazon-vs-perplexity-welcome-to-the-battle-for-the-future-of-commerce/ )

53 min

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Join Brady Ng, Praveen Gopal Krishnan, and Rohin Dharmakumar of The Ken as they discuss the big ideas in artificial intelligence. You’ll get the macro view, explore their experiments in practical applications, go deeper than the news coverage you’ve seen, and hear about the implications of the latest developments. Nothing is off the table.